I'm Still Here
by Shade Penn
Summary: Sequel to Going Under. After waking up on a riverbend, Allie thought the worst was over. She was wrong.
1. Chapter 1

A heart beat sounded…then another…and then another…

Allie gasped for air as she looked around quickly, feeling her heart race in her chest rapidly. Her hair was in her face and she raised her wet hands to move the strands away and saw that she was lying in the mud at the edge of a river. She could only assume she had washed up on shore and looked up at the sky wildly, but felt something calm in her as she stared at the too bright moon.

Allie closed her eyes and took a deep breath before getting to her feet and made her way up the hill as steadily as she could. She even crawled up it to make sure she didn't go sliding back down. The blonde wondered how she was still alive as she was sure she was going to drown, but it seemed she might have just needed some air.

She shivered in the night air and used the tree at the top of the hill to keep herself up and decided to go home as whatever was after her didn't seem to be around anymore. Another shiver ran through her before she saw a car driving down the road and tried to wave it down, but if seeing a soaking wet girl with a wild look in her eyes made people keep going, Allie couldn't really fault them for it.

Sighing she decided to walk home herself. So trekking along the road, she hugged herself and hoped she'd get dry soon. Allie soon came across her home and saw that her parents were home now from their night out. She found enough energy in her to run the rest of the way home, walking into the house with a smile on her face, feeling safer than before this all happened.

"Mom, dad, please don't freak." She said and stopped dead as she saw that her mother was sitting worried on the couch and seemed to be crying and her father was on the phone.

"Yes sir, our daughter is missing and we tried her boyfriend's but he said she asked him to leave he hasn't seen her since." Her father said.

Allie felt her eyes widen. "Dad, what are you talking about? I'm standing right in front of you." She said moving in front of her parents.

Her father continued to ignore her though and Allie felt frustrated.

"Don't you see me?" she shouted, but neither of her parents reacted. "Why? Why are you-" she froze as her father got off the phone and walked _right through her_.

Allie's face was one of shock and disbelief. She stared down at her hands and backed away from her parents as they talked about how she was missing and she couldn't believe what she was hearing. But she couldn't say anything as they didn't seem to hear her, and they couldn't see her either, so was she dead or something?

No, Allie dismissed the idea because if she was dead then it would mean she could go through walls and stuff, but she couldn't as she used the door which was solid and when she jumped, she didn't go through the floor either. So what was going on?

Not being able to watch her parents talk about how she was 'missing' any longer while not being able to tell them she actually was in front of them, she turned away and walked up the stairs to her room, hoping when she woke up in the morning this was all just a bad dream.

* * *

Allie opened her eyes and saw the sun peeking through the window in her room and yawned while stretching her arms above her head and swung her legs over the bed before getting out of it. Her smile crashed once she remembered what had happened the day before and though about how deceiving it was that she could still touch things like there wasn't anything wrong.

With a heavy heart, she made her way down the stairs and out the door, not wanting to be around this place any longer and watch her parents walk through her like she didn't exist. Instead she decided to try the school and hoped that maybe someone there would be able to see her. She stretched her legs before getting into a runners pose and took off for the school, feeling the air leave her as she realized she'd run a lot faster than she ever could.

Just what _had_ happened the night before after passing out? She couldn't be dead she reasoned as she wouldn't be able to touch anything, so all that was left to answer was just how she was like this in the first place. Though in the back of her mind, Allie thought it had something to do with the whole reincarnation thing.

Yet another reason this whole thing sucked.

Since she was at the school before the other-Allie felt her breath hitch as she corrected herself-_her former_ classmates arrive, so she walked over to the bench by the school and sat down, wrapping her arms around herself and hoped she would be able to be seen by at least one of them. She vainly hoped it would be Miles, but she wasn't holding her breath for _anyone_ to notice her.

As the first bus pulled up, Allie brought her knees up to her chest, cringing as each one of them walked past her. She saw none of them even glance at her, and put her head on her knees.

It was just hopeless-

"Allie?"


	2. Chapter 2

It couldn't be; Allie didn't think it could, but when she looked up, her eyes locked with Marco and she felt her breath hitch again, but this was the only time it could be considered a good reaction.

"You can see me?" she whispered hopefully.

Marco raised a brow. "Why wouldn't I be able to?" he quipped. "Where were you? Your parents are worried about you."

"After Will left, I was chased out of my house by…_somethingcalling_ me Arthur, like he didn't know my name. Mordred _did_ know my name though, so there's another point it probably wasn't him."

"Did he say anything else?" Marco questioned.

"He said that Mordred wasn't the only thing I had to worry about, but I was so terrified that something _was__ out to get _me that I almost believed it was him." Allie replied grimly and Marco nodded. She noticed the students walking by were giving the teen strange looks, and she knew it must look like he was talking to thin air. "There's another thing, when I woke up at the shore of the river and walked home, my father walked right through me."

Marco stared at her with disbelief. "But…but you can't be dead!"

"I don't think I'm not," Allie replied and gestured to the bench, "I'd go through this if I were, and my heart is still beating." She said placing a hand over her heart.

Marco raised a hand before slowly placing it over Allie's own, as if to affirm that she was actually there. The feel of another's presence made Allie want to cry; she wasn't being ignored, nor was she being treated like she didn't exist. "Why can I still touch you then?"

"I don't know." Allie whispered, but her was voice strengthened by the fact at least one person could see her. "But maybe the book can help me, and if not, then I'll find the answers on my own…no matter how long it takes."

"And then everyone else will believe you're still here like I do." Marco said with conviction.

Allie felt herself smile despite the rather grim situation. "You still believe in me?"

"Whether or not you are dead or not, you're still meant for something better, and I'll always believe in you." Marco replied.

"Even when I turned out not to be the Arthur you expected?" Allie asked sardonically.

"Even then." Marco said dryly and Allie snickered.

"Then wish me luck." She said clenching his hand for a moment, not knowing for how long she could last without this contact. It felt physically painful for her to let go, but she needed to do this.

"Good luck." Marco said nodding at her.

Allie nodded back before she ran at her abnormally fast pace home, hoping the key was under the doormat. Since her parents weren't home, it would make retrieving the book just a bit less painful, but she knew it'd hurt still no matter how long she was going to be gone.

The blonde knew it was pitiful to think she could come back without answers, but she still wanted the option, no matter how in vain it might turn out to be. She sprinted up the steps of the staircase quickly, going into her room and grabbed her bag before dumping out the contents and stuffed the book into it, along with a sweater for when she got cold as that still affected her it seemed.

When she ran downstairs, she paused and went into the kitchen to take a dull butter knife out of the drawer, watching in fascination as Excalibur was once more in her hands. Conviction coursed through her as she stared down at the sword and clenched her fist around the handle.

"I'm still here." She whispered to herself. "I just need to remember that; this wouldn't be working if I were dead."

With that firm thought resounding in her head, Allie locked the door upon exiting and sped away from the town she was promised was going to be her home. She looked back at it regretfully for all she would never be able to do, but breathed in deeply before she continued to run.

And even if she could never interact with anyone other than Marco, she still existed; and no matter how small a consolation prize it was, it reminded her that she was still there.

She was going to get the answers and let others know she existed too.

No matter how long it might take her.


End file.
